Vehicle monitoring devices and methods for managing man down signals

ABSTRACT

System and method for identifying speeding violations, comprising determining a current speed and a current location of a vehicle, determining a posted speed limit for the current location from a speed-by-street database, comparing the current speed of the vehicle to the posted speed limit, and evaluating whether the current speed exceeds the posted speed limit. Errors are identified in the speed-by-street database by storing a plurality of speeding violation records, wherein the speeding violation records each include a speeding event location; analyzing the speeding violation records to identify one or more speeding event locations having multiple speeding violations; comparing a posted speed limit at the one or more speeding event locations having multiple speeding violations to corresponding speed limit data in the speed-by-street database; and identifying one or more speed limit entries in the speed-by-street database that do not match the posted speed limit.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/516,876 filed on Oct. 17, 2014, entitled “System and Method forMonitoring and Updating Speed-By-Street Data,” which is a continuationof U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/975,489 filed on Dec. 22, 2010,entitled “System and Method for Monitoring and Updating Speed-By-StreetData,” which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,890,717 on Nov. 18, 2014, andwhich is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/805,238 filedMay 22, 2007, entitled “System and Method for Monitoring and UpdatingSpeed-by-Street Data,” which claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 60/802,478, filed on May 22, 2006, entitled “DriverBehavior Monitoring System,” each of which application is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. The Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a system and method formonitoring driver behavior and vehicle driving conditions and, moreparticularly, to a system and method for comparing driving speed to aspeed-by-street database to identify speeding violations and/or errorsin the speed-by-street database.

2. Background

The present invention relates generally to asset management and, moreparticularly, to a fleet management system incorporating comprehensivedriver monitoring/mentoring and asset monitoring capabilities in orderto improve driver safety and reduce fuel and maintenance costs across afleet of vehicles. Advantageously, the fleet management system isfully-configurable at all times including during installation of thesystem as well as during operation thereof. In addition, the presentinvention relates to a system and method for monitoring driver behaviorfor use by consumers or the general public such that parents mayremotely mentor the driving habits of their teen children as well asallow for monitoring of geographic areas into which their children mayenter. Also, the present invention provides a means for recordingimpulse forces experienced by a vehicle during a crash event in order toprovide real-time notification to fleet management personnel as well asto provide data which may facilitate accident reconstruction and whichmay be used in the courtroom and by the auto insurance industry.

A recent study released by the Federal Motor Carrier SafetyAdministration (FMCSA) indicated that driver error was ten times morelikely to be the cause of truck-related accidents as compared to otherfactors such as poor road conditions, weather and mechanicalmalfunctions. Specifically, the study indicated that certain driverfactors such as speeding, inattention, fatigue and unfamiliarity withroads accounted for 88 percent of all crashes involving large trucks. Asa means to reduce truck-related accidents, the FMCSA study recommendedthat greater attention be focused on developing systems for monitoringat-risk driver behavior in commercial motor vehicle fleets in order toimprove driver safety.

Losses as a result of accidents involving large truck crashes includesproperty damage to vehicle and structures as well as personal injury todrivers, occupants and occasionally bystanders. In addition to thefinancial losses and injuries resulting from truck crashes, fleetoperators incur losses as a result of excess fuel and maintenance costs,as well as losses due to inefficient management of individual vehiclesin the fleet as well as groups of fleet vehicles such as those locatedin a specific geographic area. Fleet operators may also suffer losses asa result of vehicle theft, inefficient vehicle routing as a result ofunforeseen adverse road conditions along a route, and human losses suchas may occur when the driver is injured while performing extravehicularduties.

Included in the prior art are several systems which attempt to addresseither the problem of driver error as a cause of accidents or byattempting to reduce losses due to inefficient fleet management. Forexample, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0039504 assigned to FleetManagement Services, Inc., discloses a fleet management informationsystem for identifying the location and direction of movement of eachvehicle in the fleet. The Fleet Management Services applicationdiscloses that each vehicle in the fleet is in communication directlywith management offices in real-time to report vehicle location andheading as well as the status of certain events in which the vehicle maybe engaged.

One of the stated objects of the fleet management system disclosed inthe application is to improve the availability of fleet managementinformation to owners and operators so as to improve vehicle trackingand enhanced communication within the fleet to increase assetprofitability. The application indicates that the above-mentionedobjects are facilitated by providing the capability to locate vehiclesin the fleet in real-time as well as improving the efficiency ofwireless communication within the fleet.

Although the application assigned to Fleet Management Services, Inc., asdisclosed above is understood to provide improved fleet businessmanagement by minimizing gap times in time division multiple access(TDMA) networks during data transmissions, the application is notunderstood to address the issue of monitoring driver behavior and/ordriver performance in order to improve driver safety and asset health.Furthermore, the application disclosed above is not understood toimprove other aspects of fleet operation such as improving fuel economyand reducing maintenance costs of a fleet. In this regard, theapplication is only understood to improve communication within the fleetand is not understood to improve the amount of information availableregarding the operation of each vehicle such that analysis of similarproblems may be performed in order to establish trends and ultimatelycorrect problems over time.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,124,810 issued to Segal et al. and assigned to Qualcomm,Inc. discloses a method for determining when a vehicle has arrived anddeparted from a specific location. More particularly, the Segal patentdiscloses an apparatus having an on-board mobile communication terminalfor receiving destination information wirelessly from a centralfacility. The apparatus incorporates velocity data from a vehiclespeedometer in combination with a communication satellite system inorder to provide vehicle position data to a processor.

The processor, located on-board the vehicle, uses speed and positiondata to determine the vehicle arrival or departure times which iswireless transmitted to the central facility. Although the device of theSegal patent is understood to improve fleet efficiency due to itsautonomous transmission of arrival and departure times between a vehicleand a dispatch center, the Segal patent is not understood to address theissue of reducing aggressive driver behavior such as reducing speedingwhich would improve fleet safety.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,077 issued to Martin and assigned to RockwellInternational Corporation discloses a fleet management that transmitsvehicle positional data to a base station with a time annotation. Thepositional data further includes velocity data as well as the identityof satellites observed. In this manner, the fleet management system ofthe Martin reference ostensibly improves fleet management capability byimproving the accuracy of GPS positional and directional information.However, the device fails to address the above-noted problems associatedwith improving driver behavior in fleet operations in order to reduceaccident rates and lower fleet operation costs.

BRIEF SUMMARY

As can be seen, there exists a need in the art for a driver mentoringsystem adaptable for use in commercial fleet operations that monitors atrisk and/or unsafe driver behavior and provides mentoring to the driverin order to reduce adverse driver actions and inactions that may lead toaccidents. In addition, there exists a need in the art for a drivermentoring system that allows for accurate vehicle tracking at a basestation and which can incorporate a third party mapping database inorder to provide maximum road speed data for any particular location ona road such that the driver may avoid speeding violations and/ormaintain safe, legal, and established speed limits.

Furthermore, there exists a need in the art for a vehicle behaviormonitoring system that records velocity and acceleration impulse forcesimposed on a vehicle during a crash for use in accident reconstructionfor insurance claim and courtroom purposes. Finally, there exists a needin the art for a vehicle behavior monitoring system that provides forreal-time reconfiguration of driver performance and vehicle operationparameters from a base station to individual vehicles in a fleet andwhich allows for reporting of such data in order to generate driverprofiles and trends, calculate fuel and mileage tax and create hours ofservice reports in compliance with federal requirements.

The present invention specifically addresses the above-mentioned needsassociated with fleet management by providing a unique vehiclemonitoring system specifically adapted to mentor driver performance inorder to improve driver safety and reduce accident rates as well asreduce fuel and maintenance costs (as a secondary benefit to gooddriving behavior—driving the speed limit on paved roads and drivingspecified and/or configured speed limits on non-paved roads).

In another aspect of the invention, the vehicle monitoring system allowsfor the recording of crash impulse forces acting on the vehicle duringan accident for accident reconstruction purposes and for insurance andinjury claim purposes. Fleet utilization is improved by real-time orover-time tracking by GPS of all vehicles in the fleet or tracking pergeographic zone, by group, and individually.

The present invention also generates automated International Fuel TaxAgreement (IFTA) reports, mileage reports, hours-of-service (HOS)reports required by the Department of Transportation (DOT) and providesreal-time updates on driver behavior and vehicle operation that isaccessible anywhere via the internet. Advantageously, the system isfully-configurable in all aspects and at any time includingreconfiguring during installation of the system as well as duringoperation. For example, the invention provides a means by which fleetmanagement can reconfigure the vehicle monitoring system by remotecommand in order to revise various system parameters such as the type ofdata to be reported and how often. Conversely, the system can bereconfigured at the vehicle in a comprehensive manner.

Two-way communication between the fleet vehicles and the base station orserver allows for notification of fleet management and/or safetypersonnel during an emergency, during an exception event such asexcessive speeding or swerving by a driver, or to allow drivers toreport in at specific intervals and times or upon the occurrence ofspecific events.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the various embodimentsdisclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the followingdescription and drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of several GPS-tracked vehicles in wirelesscommunication with a base station having a server containing a fleetmanagement data collection system (DCS) that is also accessible via theinternet;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a vehicle monitoring system wherein eachvehicle may include a GPS receiver (GPS), crash data recorder (CDR),mobile data terminal (MDT), accelerometer module (XL module) and amaster command module (MCM) adapted to receive inputs therefrom fortransmission to the base station for recording on the DCS and generatingreports;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of exemplary inputs that may be provided tothe MCM from the vehicle such as by an on-board diagnostic (OBD) systemas well as inputs provided by the GPS receiver, the CDR, XL module, MDTand other sensors/devices and which may result in outputs from the MCMsuch as transmission of data to the DCS and generation of an alarm forthe driver;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of exemplary inputs that may be provided tothe MCM from the base station/server and which may include commands toreconfigure the rule set/logic of the MCM;

FIG. 5 is a sample graphic display of the DCS such as may be accessiblefrom an internet portal after a user logs in and illustrating theprovided capability of simultaneous viewing of driver and vehicle datasuch as geographic position of the vehicle as well as the ability toselect from among multiple parameters for tracking vehicles and driverperformance in addition to providing other options including issuing ofcommands to the MCM;

FIG. 6 illustrates a vehicle monitoring system according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating one process for implementing thepresent invention;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an alternative process forimplementing an alternative embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an additional process forimplementing an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The making and using of the presently preferred embodiments arediscussed in detail below. It should be appreciated, however, that thepresent invention provides many applicable inventive concepts that canbe embodied in a wide variety of specific contexts. The specificembodiments discussed are merely illustrative of specific ways to makeand use the invention, and do not limit the scope of the invention.

Referring now to the drawings wherein the showings are for purposes ofillustrating preferred embodiments of the present invention and not forpurposes of limiting the same, shown in FIG. 1 are several vehicles101-103 of a fleet which are in wireless communication with a basestation 104. Each of the vehicles 101-103 in the fleet preferablyincludes a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to allow trackingthereof. The base station 104 includes a server 105 containing a fleetmanagement database 106 or data collection system (DCS) that may beaccessible via a securable internet connection or at the server 105itself.

In one aspect of the invention, a vehicle monitoring system is providedfor monitoring at least one vehicle 101-103 in the fleet as well asmonitoring driver behavior in order to improve safety and reduce fueland maintenance costs for the fleet. Driver behavior is monitored withthe aid of an accelerometer module (XLM) 201 (FIG. 2) which includes atleast one accelerometer for measuring at least one of lateral(sideways), longitudinal (forward and aft) and vertical acceleration inorder to determine whether the driver is operating the vehicle 101-103in an unsafe or aggressive manner.

For example, excessive lateral acceleration may be an indication thatthe driver is operating the vehicle 101-103 at an excessive speed arounda turn along a roadway. Furthermore, it is possible that the driver maybe traveling at a speed well within the posted speed limit for that areaof roadway. However, excessive lateral acceleration, defined herein as“hard turns,” may be indicative of aggressive driving by the driver andmay contribute to excessive wear on tires and steering components aswell as potentially causing the load such as a trailer to shift andpotentially overturn.

Furthermore, such hard turns by a particular driver could eventuallyresult in personal injury to the driver/occupants as well as propertydamage to the vehicle 101-103 and load carried thereby and damage toanything impacted by the vehicle 101-103 should it depart the roadway.Ultimately, such hard turns could result in loss of life if the vehicleis a large truck and the driver loses control resulting in a collisionwith a smaller vehicle such as a passenger automobile.

As such, it can be seen that monitoring and mentoring such driverbehavior by providing warnings to the driver during the occurrence ofaggressive driving such as hard turns can improve safety and reduceaccidents. In addition, mentoring such aggressive driver behavior canreduce wear and tear on the vehicle and ultimately reduce fleetmaintenance costs as well as reduce insurance costs and identify at riskdrivers and driving behavior to fleet managers.

In one aspect, the vehicle monitoring system includes a master commandmodule (MCM) 202 which may be in data communication with an on boarddiagnostic (OBD) II system 203 of the vehicle such as via a port. Insome vehicle models, the MCM 202 is placed in data communication with acontroller area network (CAN) system (bus) 203 to allow acquisition bythe MCM of certain vehicle operating parameters including, but notlimited to, vehicle speed such as via the speedometer, engine speed orthrottle position such as via the tachometer, mileage such as via theodometer reading, seat belt status, condition of various vehicle systemsincluding anti-lock-braking (ABS), turn signal, headlight, cruisecontrol activation and a multitude of various other diagnosticparameters such as engine temperature, brake wear, etc.

The OBD or CAN 203 allows for acquisition of the above-mentioned vehicleparameters by the MCM 202 for processing thereby and/or for subsequenttransmission to the database 106. In order to enhance reliability andextend its useful life, it is contemplated that the MCM 202 is housed ina sealable housing which may be configured to provide varying degrees ofwaterproof protection. For operation in extreme temperatures, a heatermechanism may be provided to the housing to enable reliable operation incold and severe service environments. Ideally, the housing contents(e.g., MCM 202) or the housing itself is configured to withstandexcessive vibration and/or shock. The MCM 202 may be mounted in anylocation in the vehicle such as underneath the seat. The MCM 202 mayfurther include an external power source 204 such as a battery, fuelcell, recharger, AC/DC adapter, DC bus—accessory or cigarette lighterplug, hot lead to vehicle fuse panel, etc., for powering the MCM 202.

The vehicle monitoring system may further include a self-contained andtamper-resistant event data recorder or crash data recorder (CDR) 205similar to that which is shown and disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,266,588and 6,549,834 issued to McClellan et al., (the disclosures of which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety) and which iscommercially known as “Witness” and commercially available fromIndependent Witness, Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah. The CDR 205 isadapted to continuously monitor vehicle motion and begin recording uponsupra-threshold impacts whereupon it records the magnitude and directionof accelerations or G-forces experienced by the vehicle as well asrecording an acceleration time-history of the impact event and velocitychange between pre- and post-impact for a configurable durationfollowing said impact. The recordings are time-date stamped and areprovidable to the MCM 202 for subsequent transmission to the server DCS106 if accelerations exceed an impulse threshold.

In addition, the CDR 205 is configured such that data is downloadablesuch as via a laptop directly from the CDR 205 at the scene of theaccident or the CDR itself can be removed from the vehicle for laterdownloading of data. As will be described in greater detail below, thedata (e.g., crash impulses) recorded by the CDR 205 can be correlated toaccident severity and injury potential. It is contemplated that CDR datacan be combined with recording of driver behavior via the accelerometermodule (XLM) 201 in order to determine the probability of crash impactas a cause of personal injury and/or property damage.

Furthermore, the CDR 205 such as that disclosed in the McClellanreferences is Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) J211-compliant suchthat data recorded thereby is admissible in court and can be used tofacilitate accident reconstruction as well as for insurance claimpurposes. As was earlier mentioned, the CDR 205 is a self-containedcomponent that includes its own power source such as a battery 206 suchthat the vehicle can operate regardless of the lack of power from thevehicle due to the accident.

Importantly, the XLM 201 may be integrated with the MCM 202 and mountedwithin the housing. The XLM 201 is operative to monitor driverperformance by measuring vehicle acceleration in at least one oflateral, longitudinal and vertical directions over a predetermined timeperiod such as over seconds or minutes. The XLM 201 may include a singleuni-axial accelerometer to measure acceleration in any one of the threeabove-mentioned directions such as in the lateral direction.

Alternatively, the accelerometer may be a bi-axial or a tri-axialaccelerometer for measuring acceleration in two or three of theabove-mentioned directions or two or three uni-axial accelerometers maybe combined to provide measurements. In addition, accelerometers may beoriented in the XLM 201 to measure centripetal, centrifugal, radial,tangential acceleration or acceleration in any other direction. The XLM201 generates an input signal to the MCM 202 when measured accelerationexceeds a predetermined threshold. Similarly, the XLM 201 may beconfigured to monitor and record both the day-to-day driving performanceas well as capture the crash pulse. Advantageously, the base stationand/or MCM 202 is configured to filter out or compensate forgravitational effects on longitudinal, lateral and vertical accelerationmeasurements when the vehicle is moving on hilly terrain.

As was earlier noted, the vehicle monitoring system includes a GPSreceiver 207 in each vehicle in the fleet and which is configured totrack in at least one of real-time or over-time modes the location anddirectional movement of the vehicle. As is well known in the art,signals from at least three GPS satellites 107 (FIG. 1) must be receivedby a GPS receiver 207 in order to calculate the latitude and longitudeof an asset such as a vehicle as well as allowing for tracking ofvehicle movement by inferring speed and direction from positionalchanges. Signals from a fourth GPS satellite 107 allow for calculatingthe elevation and, hence, vertical movement, of the vehicle. The GPSreceiver 207 provides a GPS signal to the MCM 201 which may also betransmitted to the server 105 at the base station 104 for recording intothe DCS 106.

The vehicle monitoring system may further include a mobile data terminal(MDT) 208 which may be conveniently mounted for observation andmanipulation by the driver such as near the vehicle dash. The MDT 208preferably has an operator interface 209 such as a keypad, keyboard,touch screen, display screen or any suitable user input device and mayfurther include audio input capability such as a microphone to allowvoice communications. Importantly, the MDT 208 may include at least onewarning mechanism 210 such as an external speaker and/or a warning light210 for warning the driver of violation of posted speed limits and/orexceeding acceleration thresholds in lateral, longitudinal and verticaldirections as an indication of hard turns, hard braking or hardvertical, respectively. In addition, the MDT 208 may include a manual RFdisable switch 211 to prevent RF emissions by the vehicle monitoringsystem in areas that are sensitive to RF energy.

As was earlier mentioned, the MCM 202 is adapted to receive inputsignals from the OBD or CAN 203, GPS receiver 207, CDR 205, MDT 208 andXLM 201 and, in this regard, may be hardwired such as to the OBD 203 andXLM 201. Alternatively, because of the small distances between thecomponents installed in the vehicle, short range wireless methods suchas infrared, ultrasonic, Bluetooth, and other mediums which may linksuch components. Regardless of the manner of interconnection (wirelessor hardwired), the MCM 202 is operative to transmit to the base station104 an output signal 212 representative of the measured parametersprovided by each component according to a rule set or logic containedwithin the MCM 202.

Alternatively, the logic may be entirely contained in the database 106at the server 105 such that all processing is performed at the basestation 104 and the appropriate signals transmitted back to the MCM 202.In the latter scheme, the MCM 202 and base station 104 must preferablybe in continuous two-way wireless communication which, at the time ofthis writing, is typically not cost-effective for most fleet operators.Therefore, wireless communication between the MCM 202 and the basestation 104 is based on a protocol of information criticality, cost andsystem availability.

For example, in emergency situations wherein the base station 104receives a signal from the MCM 202 associated with critical data such asan emergency, signal transmission is by the most expedient and reliablemeans available with cost being a secondary or tertiary consideration.On the other hand, for non-critical data such as an indication of lowtire pressure as provided to the MCM 202 by the OBD 203, notification istransmitted to the base station 104 by the least expensive means andduring a latent transmission.

Wireless communication 213 between the MCM 202 and the base station 104may be provided by a variety of systems including, but not limited to,WiFi, cellular network 108, satellite 109, Bluetooth, infrared,ultrasound, short wave, microwave or any other suitable method.Hardwired communication 214 may be effected at close range such as whenthe vehicle is within a service yard or at a base station wherein anethernet connection may suffice.

The DCS 106 is an asset information network that is accessible throughat least one server portal 215 and is configured to receive data fromthe MCM 202 during predetermined time intervals, on demand, duringcritical events, or randomly. The DCS 106 is also configured to generatereports such as graphic report (e.g., bar charts) of driver performance.The DCS 106 can also be configured to cause the MCM 202 to transmitwarning signals to the vehicle during driver violations such asspeeding, hard turns, hard brake, hard vertical, seatbelt violation andcan also be configured to send a notification to the server 105 duringpredetermined events such as panic, man down, exception, accident,unauthorized vehicle movement to alert fleet management or safetypersonnel.

The vehicle monitoring system is configured to monitor driver speedusing OBD 203 data such as speedometer, odometer, tachometer data orspeed inferred from GPS data. Speeding violations may be determined bycomparing vehicle speed (as provided by the OBD 203 or as inferred fromGPS data) to a speed-by-street database such as a generic third-partydata set similar to that commercially available from NAVTEQ of Chicago,Ill., and generating a driver violation when the vehicle speed exceedsthe speed-by-street. The driver violation causes the MCM 202 to generatean audible/visual warning to the driver in order to change driverbehavior over time. In this manner, the vehicle monitoring systemprovides for mentoring of driver behavior in order to improve safety andreduce fleet management costs.

Furthermore, the MCM 202 may be configured to determine vehicle speedsuch as during a turn where the vehicle is moving slower than the speedlimit but the lateral acceleration levels as measured by the XLM 201exceed the threshold values. Such a situation may occur when the driveris turning aggressively in a parking lot (i.e., hard turning). Byintegrating lateral acceleration over time, it is possible to determineinstantaneous velocity of the vehicle at any point in the turn.Importantly, in one aspect of the invention, the generation of thewarning signal to the driver starts a count-down timer wherein thevehicle monitoring system transmits an exception signal to the basestation when the timer duration expires.

Alternatively, an exception signal may be generated when certainmeasured parameters exceed a threshold value by a large margin such aswhen the magnitude of the speeding violation exceeds a threshold of 100mph. An exception signal may then be transmitted to the base station 104such that appropriate fleet management personnel may be alerted. Suchnotification may be by any predetermined means and may include cellphone voice or text communication, paging, etc. In addition to thewarning signal at the vehicle, the driver may likewise be contacted bycell phone, page or other radio communications regarding the exceptionevent.

The MCM 202 may be in receipt of numerous other sensors that may provideindication of driver violations. For example, the vehicle monitoringsystem may include a seat sensor 216 in communication with the MCM 202and which is operative to generate a signal when the vehicle is movingand seatbelts of vehicle occupants are unfastened. In this regard, thevehicle monitoring system may include any number of mechanical andelectronic sensors 217 in data communication with the MCM and which areconfigured to monitor at least one of the following vehicle parameters:low battery, engine temperature, ignition on/off, headlight turnindicator usage, ABS operability, trailer electrical/mechanicalmalfunction, proximity forward (tailgating) and proximity rearward(objects behind) and proximity sideways (swerving and lane departures)218. Furthermore, mechanical and electronic sensors 219 may be providedto monitor at least one of the following driver parameters: blink rate(a sleep sensor), heart rate, blood pressure and any other physiologicalparameters.

The vehicle monitoring system may be operative to track and generateon-demand reports of hours-of-service (HOS) (e.g., on-duty/off-dutydriving times, consecutive driving days) in compliance with FederalMotor Carrier Safety Administration regulations. The vehicle monitoringsystem may additionally be operative to facilitate apportionment ofmileage tax by tracking vehicle mileage within a given geographic regionby noting state and national border crossings. In another aspect of theinvention, it is contemplated that correction for mileage errors can becompensated for by re-synchronizing the MCM 202.

More specifically, because of the drift in OBD 203 mileage data due toodometer error as a result of tire wear or variations in tire pressureand/or due to inconsistencies in the GPS receiver data as a result ofmulti-path errors due to interference with trees and buildings or signaldelay errors caused by atmospheric interference, the present inventionmay include a process for re-synchronizing the MCM 202 during vehiclerefueling. In this manner, fuel tax may be accurately tracked in orderto reduce fleet fuel costs.

The MCM 202 may automatically send certain types of signals to the basestation 104. For example, the vehicle monitoring system may furtherinclude a manually/automatically-activatable timer that is configured togenerate a man down signal 220 that is sent to the base station when thetimer duration is exceeded. For example, in remote job site locationssuch as at an oil well location where it is necessary for the driver toperform certain hazardous tasks outside of the vehicle, the driver mayfirst activate a one-hour (or other duration) timer such that failure todeactivate the timer results in a man down signal being transmitted tothe base station 104 so that help may be sent to the vehicle location. Asimilar message may be sent to the base station 104 via a panic button221 activated by a driver, occupant or any nearby person and may operatesimilar to that of a fire alarm or emergency 9-1-1 phone call whereinfleet management may send help to the vehicle location.

As was earlier mentioned, the MCM 202 may be configured to send to thebase station 104 an exception signal representative of a violation ofone of a plurality of parameters comprising at least one of exceeding apredetermined speed along a given route, failure to wear seatbelt,failure to activate headlights, tailgating, excessive idle time,excessive engine RPM, engine parameters, tire condition, vehicle loadcondition, vehicle location violation. The parameter settings (i.e.,logic) of the MCM 202 may be remotely changed by commands transmittedfrom the base station 104 to the MCM 202. More specifically, the rulesets that comprise the hierarchy (i.e., criticality) by which signalsare transmitted from the MCM 202 to the base station 104 may be revised.For example, a hierarchy of signal transmission may be revised from:panic, man down, crash event, exception, non-urgent communication to ahierarchy of crash event, man down, panic, exception, non-urgentcommunication.

In this same regard, the MCM 202 in one aspect of the invention isconfigured to allow for wireless or remote manipulation from the basestation 104 of vehicle settings through the OBD or CAN 203 and may allowfor revising certain vehicle settings such as engine governor settingand ignition timing. In a further aspect, the vehicle monitoring systemallows for generating reports or alerts (e.g., text and/or map) ofrecently-occurring accident locations and dangerous road conditions suchthat a warning signal may be provided to the driver when the vehicleapproaches the accident location or road condition. Additionally, thesystem can be configured to geo-fence certain areas of interest and tonotify specified and/or targeted individuals when the vehicle and itsdriver approaches or departs a geo-fenced area. As was earliermentioned, the database 106 is configured to collect driver performancedata over time, generate a driver performance database comprisingvehicle type and driver profile, and generate reports of predictivedriver behavior based on historical driver performance data with theoption of generating a graphical representation such as a bar chart ofdriver performance.

Additional modifications and improvements of the present invention mayalso be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, theparticular combination of parts described and illustrated herein isintended to represent only one embodiment of the present invention andis not intended to serve as limitations of alternative devices withinthe spirit and scope of the present invention.

Global Asset Information Network (GAIN) 110 (FIG. 1) is a portal forfleet asset management and for monitoring driver safety. GAIN is arobust data collection and reporting system. Using an internet browser111, fleet managers have a view into their fleet's current status. Theycan see all pertinent aspects of fleet operations from complex indexingand trending of aggressive driver behavior to simple location of theentire fleet. Fleet managers and safety managers can use the GAIN portalto access the information reported by the vehicle monitoring equipment.Vehicles collect the data and report in at specific times, such as apreselected interval, at random intervals, when requested, by exception,or in an emergency. Vehicles report to GAIN via satellite 109, cellularnetwork 108, or other communications device to database 106. GAIN turnsthe data into actionable information providing visual reports at variouslevels of aggregation. The GAIN system 110 can be set to notify managerswhen emergencies such as panic, man down, accidents, unauthorizedvehicle movement (theft) or other company selected events occur.

FIG. 3 is an illustration of exemplary inputs that may be provided tothe MCM 202 from the vehicle and which may result in outputs from theMCM 202. OBD II/CAN 203 collects data from the vehicle's on-boarddiagnostic system, including engine performance data and system statusinformation. GPS receiver 207 provides location information. CDR 205provides data in the event that a crash threshold is exceeded.Accelerometers 201 provide information regarding the vehicle's movementand driving conditions. The user may provide information to MCM 202 viathe mobile data terminal 208. Any number of other sensors 301, such asseat belt sensor 216, proximity sensor 218, driver monitoring sensors219, or cellular phone use sensors, also provide inputs to MCM 202.

MCM 202 can determine when an exception condition occurs or when athreshold is exceeded that requires an alarm 302 to be generated in thevehicle. The alarm 302 may be an audible or visual warning for thevehicle occupants. Additionally, any of the data collected may be passedon to database 106 at server 105 where it may be further processed oraccessed by fleet managers via GAIN system 110.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of exemplary inputs that may be provided tothe MCM 202 from the base station 104 or server 105 and which mayinclude commands to reconfigure the rule set/logic of the MCM 202. MCM202 may receive mapping and routing information 401, such as mappingupdates, accident information, and road information. MCM 202 may alsoreceive instructions 402 which include updated, revised, or correctedrule sets, commands or logic to control the operation of MCM 202.Audible and visual messages 403 may also be sent via MCM 202 and thenplayed or displayed to the driver. MCM 202 may use updated rule set 402,for example, to modify or configure the operation of vehicle systems viaOBD 203. Control information may also be provided to the XLM oraccelerometers 201, CDR 205, or the mobile data terminal 208.

FIG. 5 is an example of the display 500 that may be accessible frominternet portal 111 after a user logs in to GAIN system 110, forexample. Display 500 provides the capability to simultaneously viewdriver and vehicle data, such as geographic position of the vehicle. Theuser also has the ability to select from among multiple parameters fortracking vehicles and driver performance in addition to providing otheroptions including issuing of commands to the MCM 202.

In embodiments of the invention, a comprehensive driver monitoring andmentoring system installed in a vehicle has one or more of the followingcomponents. An on-board diagnostic (OBD) system operative to monitorvehicle parameters and to generate an OBD input signal representativethereof. The vehicle monitoring system may be enclosed in a sealablehousing that is permanently or temporarily mountable on the vehicle. Acrash data recorder (CDR) is included with the vehicle monitoring systemand is configured to measure and record vehicle acceleration, includingthe magnitude, direction and profile of such accelerations, during acrash event and to generate CDR signals. An accelerometer module (XLM)contains at least one accelerometer, such as a tri-axial accelerometer,and is mounted within the housing. The XLM is operative to monitordriver performance by measuring acceleration in at least one of alateral, longitudinal and/or vertical direction over a predeterminedtime period. The XLM generates an XL signal when acceleration exceeds apredetermined threshold. In one embodiment, the CDR and XLM may becombined so that one set of accelerometers serves both functions.

A GPS receiver mounted is preferably within the housing and isconfigured to track the location and directional movement of the vehicleand to generate a GPS signal. The vehicle's user may access the drivermentoring and monitoring system using a mobile data terminal (MDT),which preferably has a mechanism for communicating warnings to the user,such as a speaker or light. A master command module (MCM) mounted withinthe housing is operative to receive inputs from the CDR, XLM, OBD, GPSreceiver, and MDT. The MCM is operative to transmit signalsrepresentative of one or more vehicle operating parameters. The MCM isfurther configured to generate audible and/or visual warning signals tothe driver when at least one of the vehicle's movement characteristicsexceed a predetermined threshold value.

A base station server is in communication with the driver mentoring andmonitoring system and the MCM. The server has a data collection system(DCS) that is accessible through at least one server portal and beingconfigured to receive data from the MCM at predetermined or random timesand generate reports of driver performance. The server may also causethe MCM to transmit a warning signal to the vehicle when driverviolations or exceptions are detected, such as speeding, hard turn, hardbrake, hard vertical, cellular phone use, or a seatbelt violation. TheMCM may send a notification to the server during other predeterminedevents, such as a panic alarm, man down, accident, uncorrected driverviolations, or unauthorized vehicle movement.

The vehicle monitoring system is adapted to monitor driver performanceand may be in continuous communication with a base station. The vehiclemonitoring system comprises one or more of the following components. Aself-contained CDR mountable on the vehicle and configured to measurevehicle crash impulses and generate CDR input signals representativethereof. An XL module mountable on the vehicle and operatable to measurevehicle acceleration in at least one of lateral, longitudinal and/orvertical directions and to generate XL input signals representativethereof. A mobile data terminal (MDT) mountable on the vehicle andoperative to continuously transmit CDR and XL input signals from thevehicle to a base station. A driver warning device mounted on thevehicle.

In one embodiment, the base station is operative to receive the CDRinput signals and to generate a crash signal when the crash impulsesexceeds an impulse threshold value stored at the base station. The basestation is operative to emit an alert signal at the base station toalert personnel of the accident. The base station is also operative toreceive the XL input signals and generate an exception signal whenvehicle acceleration exceeds an acceleration threshold value stored atthe base station and transmit a command to the MDT to activate thedriver warning device. The base station may have a data collectionsystem (DCS) configured to receive data from the MCM and to recorddriver performance and to generate warnings for at least one of thefollowing violations: hours of service (HOS), speeding, hard turn, hardbraking, hard acceleration, hard vertical movement, failure to useseatbelt, failure to use headlights, and failure to use turn signal.

In addition to or in place of the logic contained in the base station,logic may also be included in the MCM to monitor the vehicle and driverperformance and to generate warnings. The vehicle monitoring system maybe in at least intermittent, if not continuous, communication with abase station. The vehicle monitoring system may comprise one or more ofthe following components. A self-contained CDR mountable on the vehicleand being configured to measure vehicle crash impulses and generate acrash signal when the crash impulses exceeds an impulse threshold valuestored at the CDR. Software or firmware providing a methodology forcollecting data at regular or non-regular intervals. An XL modulemountable on the vehicle and operative to measure vehicle accelerationin at least one of lateral, longitudinal and/or vertical directions andto generate an exception signal when vehicle acceleration exceeds anacceleration threshold value stored at the XL module. A mobile dataterminal (MDT) operative to intermittently transmit the crash andexception signals from the vehicle to the base station. A driver warningdevice may be mounted on the vehicle. The base station is operative toreceive the crash and/or exception signals and to alert personnel.

The vehicle monitoring system may correlate accident data from the CDRand XL Modules to potential injuries. The present invention provides asystem and method of correlating personal injury and property damagewith driver behavior measured prior to a vehicle crash and impulseforces measured during the vehicle crash. The CDR may measure crashimpulses and the XL module may monitor driver behavior in terms of hardturns, hard braking and hard vertical movement of the vehicle. In oneembodiment of the present invention, a crash database comprisingpersonal injury and property damage characteristics is generated. Forexample, characteristics of the injured person's age, gender, height,weight, occupation, hobbies, income, prior claims, physical condition,injury type and severity may be collected. Vehicle model, condition,damage type and location, as well as impact characteristics, such asacceleration magnitude and direction during the crash, change invelocity between the time of impact and at least one millisecondfollowing impact.

The vehicle monitoring system records crash impulse forces acting uponthe vehicle during the crash. Driver behavior prior to the accident isalso recorded by measuring acceleration in at least one of lateral,longitudinal and/or vertical directions in order to identify hard turns,hard braking and hard vertical forces experienced by the vehicle up tothe time of the accident. The vehicle crash impulse data is correlatedto an injury characteristic, such as by correlating accident forces tobodily injury claims, in order to determine the probability of thevehicle crash as a causal factor of the bodily injury. The database mayfurther include at least one of the following data sets: probability ofsettlement in an insurance claim filed in relation to the vehicle crash,average cost of settlement, and settlement structure.

The present invention may also be used for mentoring driver behaviorusing data collected from the XL module. In one embodiment, driverbehavior may be monitored and/or modified in a vehicle having an OBDand/or GPS receiver and an accelerometer module, which may be an XLmodule containing at least one accelerometer. Preferably, theaccelerometer module will be a tri-axial accelerometer. The systemmeasures vehicle acceleration in at least one of lateral, longitudinaland/or vertical direction and may determine vehicle speed from a vehiclespeedometer (via an OBD) or by inferring speed from GPS readings. Themeasured acceleration is compared to a predetermined threshold, and thespeed is compared to a speed-by-street dataset. A warning signal is sentto the driver when the measured acceleration exceeds the thresholdand/or when the speed exceeds those contained in the speed-by-streetdataset. A timer may be started when the warning signal is sent to allowthe driver a predetermined amount of time to reduce the acceleration orspeed. A notification signal may be sent to a base station if the driverfails to reduce acceleration or speed during the predetermined amount oftime. The timer may be configurable for any amount of time, includingzero or no delay.

In order to provide more accurate measurements of driver behavior, inone embodiment, the present invention filters gravity out ofaccelerometer readings as the vehicle changes its horizontal surfaceorientation. Driver performance can be monitored and mentored in avehicle having an accelerometer module, which may be an XL modulecontaining at least one accelerometer. Preferably, the accelerometermodule will be a tri-axial accelerometer. Acceleration is measured in atleast one of lateral, longitudinal and/or vertical directions over apredetermined time period, which may be a period of seconds or minutes.An XL acceleration input signal is generated when a measuredacceleration exceeds a predetermined threshold. Gravitational effectsare filtered out of the longitudinal, lateral and vertical accelerationmeasurements when the vehicle is on an incline.

The present invention may also record road hazards at server database.This allows for optimization of vehicle routing in a fleet of vehicleseach having a GPS receiver and a driver-activated hazard notationmechanism. The notation mechanism is activated by the driver of eachvehicle when the vehicle encounters adverse road conditions, roadhazards, or unsafe speed limits, for example. The notation mechanismgenerates a time-stamped notation signal including GPS positional dataof the hazard along the road. The notation signal is transmitted to abase station for recording in a database. The location of the roadhazard is then transmitted to other vehicles in the fleet.

The logic and rule sets used by the vehicle monitoring system describedherein may be modified or reconfigure in real-time at the vehicle. Thepresent invention provides for real-time revising of the reporting ofvehicle behavior in a fleet management system. A base station is incommunication with a fleet of vehicles each having an MCM or processorfor receiving inputs from vehicle-mounted systems, including, forexample, OBD, GPS receiver, CDR, MDT, and an XL module. The MCM containsan original rule set or logic for processing inputs from thevehicle-mounted systems. Commands may be transmitted from the basestation to the MCM. The commands may include a revised rule setregarding processing of the inputs, such as the rules for comparinginputs to thresholds, reporting, and the like, at the MCM. The logic inthe MCM is revised in response to the revised rule set command receivedfrom the base station. Inputs at the MCM are then processed according tothe revised rule set. For example, the revised rule set may include areduced lateral acceleration threshold as measured by the XL module andby which the measured lateral acceleration is compared to determine theoccurrence of a driver violation. The revised rule set may also changereporting of the driver violation to the base station.

The present invention may also provide fleet location displays to auser. The location of a fleet of vehicles may be visualized in real-timeon a web-based portal. The portal is linked to a server that is incommunication with the vehicles. The vehicles each have an MCM forreceiving inputs from vehicle-mounted systems, including an OBD, GPSreceiver, CDR, MDT, and XL module. A number of display options may beselected for displaying the location of the vehicles on a geographicarea or map. The options include, for example, displaying an entirefleet of vehicles, an individual vehicle in the fleet, a group ofvehicles in the fleet wherein the vehicles are grouped by apredetermined set of criteria, such as by type of vehicle or load,vehicles in the fleet reporting exceptions to the base station with aprevious time period of predetermined duration, or vehicles within aspecific geographic zone.

The present invention also provides for modification of reportingintervals by the vehicle monitoring system. The reporting of fleetvehicle behavior characteristics to a base station or server may beconfigured in different ways. The following options are examples ofvehicle behavior reporting characteristics: at predetermined timeintervals, at random time intervals, upon request from the base station,upon occurrence of an exception, upon the occurrence of an emergency orspecific event, such as panic alarm, man down, or theft. The reportingmay be provided at the vehicle and/or at the base station by means ofone of the following: e-mail, cell phone voice and/or text message, orpager message. The reporting includes the following driver violations,if they have occurred, hours of service, speeding, hard turn, hardbraking, hard vertical, or failure to use seatbelt.

Embodiments of the invention provide a system and method for identifyingspeeding violations. Mapping data, including the location of streets andother landmarks and the speed limit data for individual streets (i.e.speed-by-street data), is available from companies such as NAVTEQ. Inaddition to NAVTEQ and other third-party speed-by-street databaseproviders, the operator of the monitoring system described herein maydevelop their own speed-by-street database. The mapping data can be usedin connection with a GPS receiver to display information to a driversuch as current position, destination location, routing and the like. Avehicle's current location and speed can be compared to speed-by-streetdata to identify speeding violations. The speed-by-street data may becomprise actual posted speeds on individual streets, or may be genericspeeds that are selected for different types of streets. The location ofthe vehicle is determined, for example, from a GPS receiver. The GPSlocation information is compared to a mapping database to determine whatstreet or other roadway the vehicle is currently using. The speed of thevehicle can be determined from the GPS information, such as bycalculating how fast the vehicle's position is changing, or, morelikely, from the vehicle's speedometer reading. The vehicle's monitoringsystem may have direct access to the speedometer data or it may obtainthe data from an on board diagnostic system or data bus. Afteridentifying the current street that the vehicle is using, the vehiclemonitoring system can look up the speed limit for that street in aspeed-by-street database. The speed limit for the current street is thencompared to the vehicle's current speed and the monitoring systemdetermines if the vehicle is speeding.

A speeding condition may be identified simply by identifying when thevehicle's current speed is greater, by any amount, than thespeed-by-street data. Alternatively, the vehicle's monitoring system mayrequire that the vehicle's current speed exceed the speed-by-street databy a predetermined amount before identifying a speeding condition. Forexample, the monitoring system may reference a preset speeding parameterto identify a speeding condition. The speeding parameter may be a setnumber of miles-per-hour or kilometers-per-hour. If the vehicle'scurrent speed exceeds the speed-by-street data by that amount, then aspeeding condition is identified. The speeding parameter could be fixedfor all streets so that the same amount of excess speed is required onall streets is required to identify a speeding condition. For example,if the speeding parameter is 5 MPH, then a speeding condition will beidentified any time the vehicle's speed exceeds the speed-by-street databy 5 MPH.

Alternatively, the speeding parameter may be set to vary for differentspeed limits in the speed-by-street data. For example, the speedingparameter may be set to identify a speeding condition if the vehicle'sspeed is more than 3 MPH where the speed limit is 40 MPH or less, andmore than 5 MPH on streets with a speed limit of greater than 40 MPH. Itwill be understood by those of skill in the art that the variousspeeding thresholds can be set for any number of posted speed limits orranges of posted speed limits. In another embodiment, the speedingparameter may correspond to a percentage of the speed-by-street speedlimit data. For example, the speeding parameter may be set such thatwhen vehicle's speed was 10% greater than the speed-by-street data, thena speeding condition is identified.

Upon identifying a speeding condition, the monitoring system may providean alert to the driver, such as a visual or audible alert or both. Themonitoring system may maintain a record of such speeding violations.When a speeding condition is identified, the monitoring system maycreate a record including, for example, the vehicle's location, thespeed-by-street data for that location, and the vehicle's speed. Therecord may be saved at the vehicle monitoring system or it may betransmitted to a central database or monitoring system server.Alternatively, when a speeding condition is identified, an alert may besent to the central database or monitoring system server. The alert mayinclude the vehicle's identification and location, the speed-by-streetdata for that location, and the vehicle's speed. The alert may be storedin a database and/or it may generate a message to a third party, such asa vehicle owner or fleet manager. In this embodiment, when an employeespeeds in a fleet vehicle or when a teenager speeds in his parents' car,the fleet manager or the teenager's parents are notified of thespeeding.

The speeding notification may be sent to the third party immediately.Alternatively, speeding notification messages may be stored and anotification sent at a certain intervals to identify speeding events fora particular period of time. For example, the monitoring system servermay store speeding violation notification messages received in atwenty-four hour period. A single speeding notification message may thenbe sent once a day to the fleet manager or parents. The period forgrouping speeding violation message is variable and could be selecteddepending upon the fleet manager or parents' needs. Additionalnotification criteria can be added to the notification process, such ascollecting routine speeding notification messages to be forwarded at aregular interval, but immediately sending speeding notification messageswhen the speeding condition is excessive. For example, a fleet managermay configure the system to send a daily summary of all speedingviolations for the fleet, but also choose to receive immediatenotification if a fleet vehicle exceeds the speed limit by 15 or 20 MPH.This would allow the fleet manager to provide more immediate feedback orcounseling to the speeding driver in addition to any in-vehiclewarnings.

In other embodiments of the present invention, a speeding condition maynot be identified merely for transient excess speed. Instead, thevehicle monitoring system may require that the speeding condition bepresent for a certain period of time before warning the driver,recording the speeding event, or notifying a central server or thirdparties. By requiring a probable speeding violation to occur for someperiod of time, transient events and false alarms may be eliminated orreduced. This would allow the driver to use excess speed, for example,when he is passing another vehicle or when the vehicle is merging intotraffic.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a system incorporating one embodiment ofthe invention. Vehicle 601 having vehicle monitoring system 602 istraveling on street 603; and vehicle 604 having vehicle monitoringsystem 605 is traveling on street 606. Vehicles 601 and 604 may be anytype of government, commercial or privately owned vehicle. Vehicles 601and 604 may be in the same or different vehicle fleets or not assignedto any fleet. Monitoring systems 602 and 605 are configured to collectvehicle data, such as operating parameters and location information. Asdescribed herein, monitoring systems 602 and 605 may receive informationfrom a GPS receiver and from OBD systems on vehicles 601 and 604,respectively. In particular, monitoring systems 602 and 605 areconfigured to receive or calculate at least location and speed data forvehicles 601 and 604, respectively.

Monitoring systems are in wireless communication with central monitoringserver 607 via communication network 609. The wireless communication maybe via satellite or cellular communication network or via any otherprivate or public communication network or technology withoutlimitation, including, for example, WiFi or Bluetooth communications.Preferably, the communication connection or link between the monitoringsystems (602, 605) and server 607 is two-way communication that allowseach entity to send information to the other. The communication link maybe a continuous connection or it may be an intermittent connection thatoccurs either when either the monitoring systems (602, 605) or theserver 607 have information to send or at regular intervals.

Server 607 is coupled to database 608, which holds informationassociated with vehicles 601 and 604 and other data relevant to thevehicle monitoring system. Database 607 and server 606 may be separatedevices, or they may be incorporated into one device. Server 607 may beany processor-based device. Vehicle monitoring systems 602 and 605 havea speed-by-street database that identifies the posted speed limit forvarious streets and other roadways, including streets 603 and 606.Database 607 and server 606 may also store or have access to thespeed-by-street database.

In one embodiment, when vehicle 601 exceeds the posted speed limit forstreet 603, monitoring system 602 identifies a speeding condition andrecords the speeding event. Although the present example refers tovehicle 601 and monitoring system 602, it will be understood to apply toany monitoring system in any vehicle. Monitoring system 602 may alsosend a speeding notification to server 607, which may also record thespeeding event for vehicle 601. Server 607 may also access informationfrom database 608 regarding vehicle 601 to determine if any thirdparties should be notified of the speeding condition. If a third party,such as a fleet manager or parent, should be notified of the speedingcondition, then server 607 sends a notification to them via, forexample, an email message to a computer 610, a call to telephone 611, amessage to wireless phone or pager 612, or via any other messagingformat. Server 607 may also group multiple speeding notificationstogether, such as notifications of speeding violations for an entirefleet and/or multiple speeding violations for a particular vehicle, andsend reports to a third party, such as a fleet manager or parent.

Monitoring system 602 may identify a speeding condition merely becausethe speed of vehicle 601 has exceeded the posted speed of roadway 603 byany amount. Alternatively, monitoring system 602 may require the speedof vehicle 601 to exceed the posted speed by some threshold amount orpercentage before identifying a speeding condition. In otherembodiments, monitoring system 602 may require that the speed of vehicle601 exceed the posted speed for street 603 for a preset time beforeidentifying a speeding condition. Monitoring system 602 mayalternatively require that the speed of vehicle 601 exceed the postedspeed, as recorded in the speed-by-street database, both by somethreshold amount and for some preset time. The speeding threshold andthe preset time may be set by the driver of the vehicle or may beremotely set by server 607 via a wireless communication message.

Monitoring system 602 may be configured to use multiple speedingthresholds and may determine different courses of action based upon thethresholds that are exceeded. For example, if a first speeding thresholdis exceed, monitoring system 602 may record the event, but provide nonotification or warning. At a second speeding threshold, monitoringsystem 602 may record the event and provide a warning to the driver ofvehicle 601. At a third speeding threshold, monitoring system 602 mayrecord the event, provide a warning to the driver, and send anotification message to server 607. Other speeding threshold may beestablished that, when exceeded, will affect the operation of thevehicle. At a fourth speeding threshold, monitoring system 602 mayrestrict or limit the operation of vehicle 601's engine, for example, byreducing fuel flow or governing the engine's RPM. One of skill in theart will understand that any combination of these and other speedingthreshold may be set in the vehicle monitoring system without requiringany of the thresholds to be used.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method for identifying speedingviolations according to one embodiment of the invention. It will beunderstood by those of skill in the art that the steps illustrated inFIG. 7 may occur in many different orders or even simultaneously andthat the order listed in FIG. 7 is merely one example. The vehicle'smonitoring system obtains current vehicle speed data (701) such as fromthe vehicle's speedometer, OBD or from GPS information. The monitoringsystem also obtains speed limit data for the current street from thespeed-by-street database (702). The monitoring system compares thevehicle speed to the speed limit pulled from the speed-by-streetdatabase (703). The monitoring system determines if the vehicle speedexceeds the speed limit (704). If the vehicle speed does not exceed thespeed limit, then the process begins again (704, 701).

Alternatively, if the vehicle speed does exceed the speed limit, then aspeeding violation record is created by the monitoring system (705). Themonitoring system then determines if a first threshold has been passed(706). If the first speeding threshold is passed, then a speedingwarning, such as an audible message or tone or a visible message orwarning light, is broadcast to the driver (707). If the first thresholdhas not been passed, then the monitoring system evaluates whether thevehicle is still exceeding the speed limit (712). If the vehicle isstill speeding, then the speeding violation record is updated (713) andthe monitoring system again determines if the vehicle has increasedspeed to violate the first speeding threshold (706). If the vehicle isno longer speeding, then the speeding violation record is closed (713)and the monitoring unit again evaluates the vehicle speed againstupdated speed limit data (701).

After warning the driver (707), the monitoring system then determines ifa second speeding threshold has been exceeded (708). If the secondspeeding threshold has been exceeded, then monitoring system transmits aspeeding notification to a central monitoring system server (709). Ifthe second speeding threshold has not been exceeded, then monitoringsystem evaluates if a speeding condition still exists (712), updates thespeeding record (713), and begins the process again if the vehicle isnot speeding (701) or determines if the first threshold is stillexceeded if the vehicle is still speeding (706).

After transmitting a notification to a central server (709), themonitoring system then determines if a third speeding threshold has beenexceeded (710). If the third speeding threshold has been exceeded, thenmonitoring system restricts the vehicle's engine's operating parametersin an attempt to limit the vehicle's speed (711). If the third speedingthreshold has not been exceeded, then monitoring system evaluates if aspeeding condition still exists (712), updates the speeding record(713), and begins the process again if the vehicle is not speeding (701)or determines if the first threshold is still exceeded if the vehicle isstill speeding (706).

After restricting the engine's operating parameters (711), themonitoring system then determines if the vehicle is still speeding(712), updates the speeding record (713), and begins the process againif the vehicle is not speeding (701) or determines if the firstthreshold is still exceeded if the vehicle is still speeding (706). Asillustrated in the example of FIG. 7, the monitoring system may continueto update the speeding violation record, broadcast a warning to thedriver, notify the central server, and further restrict engine operationas long as the vehicle's speed exceeds the respective thresholds forthose events.

The speed-by-street database is generated using publicly availableinformation regarding posted speed limits. This information may becollected, for example, from publications or by actually driving thestreets and recording the posted speed limits. It is likely that errorswill be present in the speed-by-street database due to incorrectlyentered data and changes in the posted speeds. The present inventionprovides a method for identifying and correcting errors in thespeed-by-street database.

For example, the speed-by-street database may incorrectly list the speedlimit for street 603 (FIG. 6) as being 45 MPH, when the actual speedlimit is 55 MPH. The data in the speed-by-street database may have beenentered incorrectly, or the assigned speed limit for street 603 may havechanged after the database was created. When vehicle 601 travels at theposted speed limit of 55 MPH on street 603, monitoring system 602 willidentify a false speeding condition in which the posted speed isviolated by 10 MPH. Depending upon the speeding threshold(s) that areset in monitoring system 602, one or more warnings or othernotifications may be sent or recorded for this false speeding violation.As a result of the speed-by-street database error, the driver of vehicle601 may receive unnecessary counseling or may receive a lower thandeserved grade or evaluation of his driving habits.

Monitoring system 602 and/or server 607 can be used identify errors orpotential errors in the speed-by-street database. When monitoring system602 identifies a speeding violation, it may record the event in a localmemory along with a location of the speeding violation. Over a period oftime a number of such speeding violations will be recorded.Periodically, when a new speeding violation is added to memory, or atany other time, monitoring system 602 may review the speeding violationrecords to identify locations or streets where multiple speedingviolations occur. For example, if vehicle 601 exceeds thespeed-by-street database speed limit for street 603 on more than oneoccasion, then multiple speeding violations will be generated for thatlocation. Records may be grouped as related violations if they occur atthe same general location or on the same section of a street.

When the number of related violations reaches a predetermined number,monitoring system 602 may identify the location of these relatedviolations as a potential error in the speed-by-street database. In thecurrent example, because the posted speed limit for street 603 is 55 MPHand the database speed limit is 45 MPH, monitoring system 602 willgenerate a speeding violation record every time vehicle 601 traversesstreet 603 at the posted speed limit or slightly below the posted speedlimit. Eventually, when enough of those violation records are linkedtogether, monitoring system 602 may notify server 607 of the location(603) where multiple repeat violations are occurring. Alternatively,each time an in-vehicle monitoring system (602, 605) sends a speedingviolation notification, server 607 may store that violation. Eventually,server 607 may correlate the speeding violations and identify an area ofpotential error in the speed-by-street database.

Server 607 may identify areas of potential error faster than anindividual monitoring system because server 607 receives speedingnotifications for numerous vehicles. Accordingly, server 607 mayidentify an area in which multiple vehicles are reporting multiplespeeding violations. For less-traveled routes, server 607 may identifyan area in which many vehicles report single speeding violations andthat may be a location with an erroneous database entry.

Once server 607 identifies a location of potential speed-by-streeterror, either upon notification by an in-vehicle monitoring system (602,605) or on its own, server 607 may issue a report or alert to anoperator regarding the potential error. The operator can then evaluatethe location, such as by having someone go to the location and observethe posted speed limits. If the posted speed limits do not match thespeed-by-street database, then the database can be updated with thecorrect information. An update message may be sent to in-vehiclemonitoring systems (602, 605) to provide corrections to their copy ofthe speed-by-street database. Alternatively, when the monitoring systemsundergo routine updates, maintenance or repair, the speed-by-streetdatabase may be updated, replaced or corrected with the actual speedlimit value for street 603.

In another alternative, if the speed-by-street database itself cannot beupdated, a list of database errors can be maintained. This list ofdatabase errors may be stored at database 608 and/or sent to in-vehiclemonitoring systems 602, 605. Upon identifying a speeding violation,monitoring system 602, 605 would then refer to the list of databaseerrors to determine if the database speed limit for location of thespeeding violation was correct. If the list of database errors did notinclude the current speeding location, then the monitoring system wouldoperate normally. However, if the current speeding location was in thelist of database errors, then the monitoring system may need toreevaluate the speeding condition. For example, the list of databaseerrors may include a correct posted speed limit that the monitoringsystem could use in place of the database value. Alternatively oradditionally, the list of database errors may include a list ofalternative thresholds for the monitoring system 602, 605 to use in thatlocation. The alternative thresholds would be adjusted relevant to theoriginal threshold by the amount of the speed limit error, therebypreventing the reporting of misidentified speeding violations.

Similarly, server 607 may refer to a list of database errors uponreceiving a speeding violation notification to ensure that the violationwas correctly identified. Alternatively, sever 607 may compare thereported vehicle speed to an updated speed-by-street database to ensurethat the speeding violation notification was proper. Server 607 wouldnot record or report speeding notifications that were improperlyidentified due to speed-by-street data.

In addition to streets for which the speed-by-street database containedspeed limit errors, other locations may be the source of multiplerepeated speeding violations. For example, street 606 may be a highwaywith a posted speed limit of 55 MPH that is accurately recorded in thespeed-by-street database in monitoring system 605 and database 608.However, normal traffic on highway 605 may travel at 65 MPH.Accordingly, vehicle 604 would be likely to follow the traffic flow,which would cause monitoring system 605 to generate a speedingviolation. The speeding violation may be recorded locally, broadcast tothe driver, or sent as a speeding notification to server 607. The driveris likely to ignore the speeding warning, if complying with the warningwould cause him to fall behind traffic or be passed by many othervehicles.

Because numerous speeding violations would reported on street 606 forvehicle 604 or for numerous vehicles, monitoring system 605 or server607 will eventually identify street 606 as having a potentiallyerroneous speed-by-street database entry. Upon identifying a potentialdatabase error, server 607 would report the location 606 to an operator,who may then have the location visually inspected. The inspection ofstreet 606 would show that the speed-by-street database is correct. Theoperator could then decide whether to create an exception for street 606in order to minimize the number of speeding violation reports for thatlocation. If street 606 was a highly traveled route, then numerouscorrect (but difficult to avoid or prevent) speeding violations would bereported.

An observer may determine that vehicles traveling at 65 MPH was normalfor street 606. The speed-by-street database could be updated on server607, database 608, and/or monitoring system 602,605 to include amodified speed limit and speeding thresholds for street 606. Themodified speed limit and speeding thresholds would minimize the numberof reported speeding violations for that location. Vehicles thatexceeded the modified speed limit would still generate speeding warningsand notifications. Accordingly, vehicles that exceeded the observed 65MPH normal traffic flow on street 606 would create a speeding violationrecord, generate a warning to the driver, and be reported to server 607.

Instead of modifying the speed-by-street database with an observednormal traffic speed, street 606 may be listed as an exception. Theexception list could me maintained by server 607 and/or monitoringsystem 602,605. When monitoring system 605 determines that vehicle 604has exceeded the speed-by-street database speed limit, monitor 605 maydetermine if location 606 in on an exception list. The exception listmay include a modified speed limit and/or modified speeding thresholdsto be used in that location. Similarly, when server 607 receives aspeeding violation notification, it may refer to an exception list todetermine if the location of the speeding violation is to be treated asan exception. If the location is on the exception list, then speedingreports that show a vehicle to be traveling at or below an observed“normal” traffic speed would not be treated as speeding violations.

It is possible that server 607 and database 608 may have an updatedspeed-by-street database, while monitoring system 602, 605 have outdatedspeed-by-street databases. In that situation, upon receiving speedingviolation reports from monitoring system 602, 605, server 607 woulddetermine if the database used by the monitoring system was current. Ifthe database was not current, then server 607 may reevaluate thespeeding violation notification in view of updated speed-by-street databefore recording or reporting the speeding event.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a process for identifying potentialerrors in a speed-by-street database. Multiple speeding violationreports are collected by a in-vehicle monitoring system or by a centralserver (801). The speeding violation reports are correlated to identifymultiple speeding violations occurring in the same location (802). Areasfor which the associated speed-by-street database entry may be incorrectare identified from the correlated data (803). For areas that may haveincorrect speed-by-street data, a visual inspection of posted speedlimits or other investigation of the location or traffic flow may beconducted to determine the actual conditions for that location (804).Actual errors in the speed-by-street database or differences between theposted speed limit and normal traffic flow are identified. It is thendetermined whether to update the speed-by-street entry for the location(805) and/or to add the location to an exception list (808). Futurespeeding violations may be compared to an updated speed-by-streetdatabase (806) or to an exception list (809). The speeding violationsmay be recoded and reported if the vehicle's speed is considered aviolation in view of the updated speed-by-street database (807) or theconditions in the exception list (810). It will be understood that thesteps illustrated in the example of FIG. 8 may occur in any order orsimultaneously and that other steps may also be used.

FIG. 9 illustrates an alternative process for implementing the presentinvention. Vehicle speed is obtained (901), for example, by averagingGPS distance over time, vehicle speedometer data, speed reading fromOBD/CAN bus, speed reading from electronic control unit (ECU) orelectronic control monitor (ECM) bus, or other means. Thespeed-by-street value for a given GPS location is collected (902) andcompared to the actual vehicle speed (903). Additionally, logic may beevaluated as part of the comparison to determine if the vehicle is in ageofence area having a speed limit. The geofence area is an area boundedby defined GPS coordinates, for example, for which the operator hasestablished speed limits for the vehicle. If geofence speed limitsexist, they will be used instead of the posted speed found in thespeed-by-street database in the comparison (903).

After comparing actual vehicle speed to the relevant posted or geofencespeed, a speed determination is made (904). If the vehicle speed is lessthan the posted database speed (i.e. the vehicle is not speeding), thenthe system checks to see if the vehicle was previously speeding (908).If the vehicle was not previously speeding then the logic is reset, andthe system enters the comparative phase of the loop (901) again.

If the vehicle speed (901) is greater than the database speed (902),then it is determined that the vehicle is speeding (904). The systemthen looks to see if the vehicle was previously speeding (905). If thevehicle was not previously speeding (906) then the system starts a timerto track the duration of the speeding violation, monitors peak speeds,and initiates one or more alarms and/or alarm combinations (visual,audible, etc) and returns the logic to obtaining a next vehicle speedvalue (901). If the vehicle speed is determined to be speeding (904),and the vehicle was previously speeding (905), then the system updatesthe top speed of the vehicle, continues the timer, continues the alarms(907) and returns the logic to obtaining the next vehicle speed value(901).

If the vehicle is not speeding (904), the system looks to see if thevehicle was previously speeding (908). If the vehicle was previouslyspeeding, then the system then checks to see if the speeding continuedbeyond a predetermined threshold of time (909). If the speeding did notlast long enough to reach the speeding threshold, then no notificationis sent and the process returns to obtain the current vehicle speed(901). If the speeding violation is greater than the speed threshold, anotification (910) is sent to a third party, such as a fleet manager,vehicle owner or the like. The speeding threshold may be any length oftime, including zero (i.e. the notification may be sent without waitingto observe the duration of the speeding violation). The notification mayinclude one or more of the following: top speed, distance traveled whilespeeding, posted speed limit, location of worst excess speed. Theprocess then returns the logic to obtaining the next vehicle speed value(901). An excess speed threshold may be set so that any time thevehicle's speed measurement (901) exceeds a preset value, then an alarmmay automatically be sent without waiting to determine how long thespeeding violation lasts. For example, a vehicle may need to exceed thespeed limit by 10 MPH for 30 seconds to generate an alarm notification,but a speed of 90 MPH will immediately generate a violation noticewithout regard for the during of that speed. Additionally, if thevehicle continues to speed, a speed governor (911) may be used to limitthe speed of the vehicle.

Although the present invention and its advantages have been described indetail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions andalterations can be made herein without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Moreover, thescope of the present application is not intended to be limited to theparticular embodiments of the process, machine, manufacture, compositionof matter, means, methods and steps described in the specification. Asone of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate from thedisclosure of the present invention, processes, machines, manufacture,compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing orlater to be developed, that perform substantially the same function orachieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodimentsdescribed herein may be utilized according to the present invention.Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within theirscope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter,means, methods, or steps.

What is claimed is:
 1. A vehicle monitoring device installed in avehicle, comprising: a GPS receiver that is configured to identify a GPSlocation of the vehicle monitoring device; a timer that is manuallyactivatable and that is configured to expire, subsequent to beingactivated, after a predetermined period of time unless the timer isdeactivated prior to expiration of the timer; and a monitoring commandmodule that is connected to the GPS receiver and the timer and that isconfigured to transmit different signals to a remote server, thedifferent signals including a GPS signal that identifies the GPSlocation of the vehicle monitoring device and a man down signal inresponse to detecting the expiration of the timer, wherein themonitoring command module transmits the man down signal in response todetecting the expiration of the timer which occurs in response to thetimer being manually activated and without being deactivated prior tothe expiration of the timer, and wherein the vehicle monitoring deviceis connected to the vehicle and the timer is manually activated by auser within the vehicle, but wherein the timer expires and the man downsignal is transmitted while the user is outside of the vehicle.
 2. Thevehicle monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the monitoring commandmodule is configured to transmit the different signals to the remoteserver according to a sequence defined by a hierarchy in which the mandown signal has a higher priority than a crash event signal that isgenerated by the monitoring command module in response to detecting acrash event with a vehicle attached to the vehicle monitoring device. 3.The vehicle monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the monitoring commandmodule is configured to transmit the different signals to the remoteserver according to a sequence defined by a hierarchy in which the mandown signal has a lower priority than a crash event signal that isgenerated by the monitoring command module in response to detecting acrash event with a vehicle attached to the vehicle monitoring device. 4.The vehicle monitoring device of claim 1, wherein the vehicle monitoringdevice further comprises a panic button which, when pressed, causes themonitoring command module to send a panic signal to the remote server.5. The vehicle monitoring device of claim 4, wherein the monitoringcommand module is configured to transmit the different signals to theremote server according to a sequence defined by a hierarchy in whichthe man down signal has a lower priority than the panic signal.
 6. Thevehicle monitoring device of claim 4, wherein the monitoring commandmodule is configured to transmit the different signals to the remoteserver according to a sequence defined by a hierarchy in which the mandown signal has a higher priority than the panic signal.
 7. The vehiclemonitoring device of claim 1, wherein the predetermined period of timeis an hour.
 8. The vehicle monitoring device of claim 1, wherein thepredetermined period of time is a period of time other than an hour. 9.A method for operating a vehicle monitoring device installed in avehicle that includes a GPS receiver, a timer and a monitoring commandmodule, the method comprising: utilizing the GPS receiver to identify aGPS location of the vehicle monitoring device; activating the timer,wherein the timer expires after a predetermined period of time,subsequent to being activated, unless the timer is deactivated prior toexpiration of the timer; and utilizing the monitoring command module,which is connected to the GPS receiver and the timer, to transmitdifferent signals to a remote server, the different signals including aGPS signal that identifies the GPS location of the vehicle monitoringdevice and a man down signal in response to detecting the expiration ofthe timer, wherein the monitoring command module transmits the man downsignal in response to detecting the expiration of the timer which occursin response to the timer being manually activated and without beingdeactivated prior to the expiration of the timer, and wherein thevehicle monitoring device is connected to the vehicle and the timer ismanually activated by a user within the vehicle, but wherein the timerexpires and the man down signal is transmitted while the user is outsideof the vehicle.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the monitoringcommand module transmits the different signals to the remote serveraccording to a sequence defined by a hierarchy in which the man downsignal has a higher priority than a crash event signal that is generatedby the monitoring command module in response to detecting a crash eventwith a vehicle attached to the vehicle monitoring device.
 11. The methodof claim 9, wherein the monitoring command module transmits thedifferent signals to the remote server according to a sequence definedby a hierarchy in which the man down signal has a lower priority than acrash event signal that is generated by the monitoring command module inresponse to detecting a crash event with a vehicle attached to thevehicle monitoring device.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein thevehicle monitoring device further comprises a panic button and whereinthe method further includes generating a panic signal in response todetecting a manual activation of the panic button.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, wherein the monitoring command module transmits the differentsignals to the remote server according to a sequence defined by ahierarchy in which the man down signal has a lower priority than thepanic signal.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein the monitoring commandmodule transmits the different signals to the remote server according toa sequence defined by a hierarchy in which the man down signal has ahigher priority than the panic signal.
 15. The method of claim 9,wherein the predetermined period of time is an hour.
 16. The method ofclaim 9, wherein the predetermined period of time is a period of timeother than an hour.